Comments on: Why Samsung just entered the dual-SIM smartphone game

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:55:27 +0000

I am based in Hong Kong and I do a lot of business in China. I have to carry 2 phones because the operator China Mobile only provides 2G coverage but they can provide a China and a Hong Kong cell phone number in 1 sim card. So in order to cope with my heavy data usage, I need to carry another phone with a local operator that provides 3G services.

If Samsung or any other company launches a high-end android handset that supports dual sims, I will be the first one to get it. Unfortunately, there is no such handset available in the market yet.

By: Varun Kumar

Varun Kumar — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 08:48:47 +0000

Olof -> unnecessary rude tone is prompted by the insult of sharing handsets idea.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 13:07:31 +0000

Very helpful Tarun, thanks!

By: Tarun Kumar

Tarun Kumar — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:23:22 +0000

Hi Kevin, I am from India and would disagree with you and your colleague Katie. The reason why a lot of Indians carry dual sim phones is either to keep their work and private lives separate OR to take advantage of different talk plans offered by different operators. Sharing is unheard of, even here, given the fact that you can buy unsubsidized basic phones from $15 with a year’s warranty which would be far more cheaper than any such phone and I would bet a phone like this would cost somewhere around $200 over here (thats the lower spec samsung android starting price phone over here). As far as Nokia dual sim handsets are concerned, trust me there are not even 10% of that market, because they were late coming to the party and could not and still cannot compete with the local companies on price. Hope this clears your understanding about this topic to some extent.

By: Praveen

Praveen — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:50:42 +0000

Kevin Samsung has introduced dual sim phones way before nokia.

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:53:46 +0000

Appreciate the feedback both from you and Prasheen. Samsung’s press release (the first link) indicates that these are their first Android smartphones with dual-SIMs, so I’ll amend the article by adding the word “Android.” Thx!

By: James Barnes

James Barnes — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:41:29 +0000

Came here to make the same comment – this is not a _new_ product line for Samsung. Article and headline are factually incorrect and should be amended.

By: Olof

Olof — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:31:04 +0000

I live in Brazil, where dual SIM handsets are very popular mainly for the reason that Talmai pointed out above (in an unnecessary rude tone, may I say). They’re mostly used with pre-paid sim cards from different carriers taking advantage of better rates for “intra-network” minutes. So when calling a number from carrier A, you use carrier A’s sim card. This used to be pretty straight forward before the country implemented number portability a couple of years ago, so people would know what carrier carried a number just by the number’s prefix.

Another use for these dual SIM phones that I can think of is one SIM for voice and another for data. Maybe it only makes sense in countries where data-only sim cards have better prices and smaller caps than data plans for voice sim cards, which is the case in Brazil. I currently have a 100MB data plan on my voice line and a 2Gb cap on a separate data-only line (both from the same carrier) and pay the same amount for both (around USD 20). A dual-sim phone would allow me to use the data-only SIM to access the Internet from my handset and my computer (tethering).

The main problem that I find with these dual-sim phones is the battery life. I’d assume it can’t last very long.

By the way, I’ve even seen 3-sim phones around here, although only from unknown brands.

By: prasheen

prasheen — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:58:34 +0000

“Samsung introduced its first two, dual-SIM smartphones on Thursday”. It is not the first but maybe the first in US.
I can find 14 dual SIM Samsung models on this page:http://www.samsung.com/in/consumer/mobile-phone/mobile-phone/dual-sim-phone/index.idx?pagetype=subtype_p2

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:28:38 +0000

The dual-sim smartphone is something so many users clamor for but the networks don’t like it. It carry multiple phones and to be able to carry one device that let’s you pick and choose which services you want from which providers. People are not content to have a smartphone that only lets you add one email account or one calendar. Why not allow more than one voice/data line? Useful for separating business and personal calls and texts or having a “private number” that you keep alongside your regular number. It allows a much easier mix between pre and post-paid numbers as well. I hope Samsung eventually makes one with USA 3G frequencies.